The blades of rotary wing aircraft and tiltrotor aircraft are disposed in a deployed position during flight. While the aircraft is being stored, however, it is convenient to fold the blades into a stowed position so as to conserve storage space. Conserving storage space is economical and in some instances, such as on aircraft carriers, is an unavoidable requirement. Moreover, the problem of limited storage space has become more severe with the use of multi-rotor helicopters and with the advent of tiltrotor aircraft where the rotors are carried at the very tips of the wings. In addition, the blades of rotary wing and tiltrotor aircraft that are of variable pitch type must be prevented from varying the pitch angle while these variable pitch type rotor blades are being folded, stowed and deployed, so as to avoid damage to the aircraft from any resulting movement of the blades. Moreover, once a rotor blade is deployed, the blade must be prevented from inadvertently folding, such as may result from vibration caused during flight. To reduce drag on the aircraft during flight, it is desirable to provide fairings over components of the rotors. Thus, in order to fold the blades of faired rotors, it is also necessary to open a portion of the fairing in the direction in which the blade is folded. Manual folding of the blades into a stowed position has proven inadequate, especially with large rotary wing aircraft and more especially with tiltrotor aircraft where the blades are located very high and at the tips of the wings.
Accordingly, rotor blade stowing systems for stowing a variable pitch rotor blade were developed in an attempt to effectively meet the above requirements. However, these traditional rotor blade stowing systems have proven ineffective at conserving storage space without adding significant weight or cost to the aircraft. Moreover, these traditional rotor blade stowing systems have proven ineffective at opening a portion of the fairing of a faired rotor blade to allow for the blade to be folded without adding significant weight or cost to the aircraft.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an effective rotor blade stowing system for stowing a rotor blade that not only allows the blade to be folded, stowed, and deployed to conserve storage space but does so without adding significant weight or cost to the aircraft. Moreover, there is also a need in the art for an effective rotor blade stowing system that provides for the opening of a portion of the fairing of a faired rotor blade without adding significant weight or cost to the aircraft.